[Solved] .odt file properties not copied to USB

[michaelelias]

Hello, I searched the forums different ways but could not find this addressed. I am trying to copy all my Writer files of my novels, including my fourth one I'm working on, to a USB jump drive. This is needed because I thought I'd been saving them to Dropbox, but there are problems getting into my Dropbox account, the one I thought I'd been saving them to. Either they're in another account under an email address which I no longer have, or they never synched up with the web form? OneDrive on my Windows 10 laptop doesn't seem to help, either. Getting back to my USB drive message, it is asking me if I am sure I want to copy the file without its properties? "The file [Novel Title].odt has properties that can't be copied to the new location." Which properties will not be copied? Would this cause a problem in working on it and saving it on my new Windows 11 computer? How about when it comes time to export it as a PDF to the online publisher? Is it worth it to copy it, or will it only take up a bit of space on the drive but not be useful to publish in unaffected, uncorrupted form when the time comes?

[Hagar Delest]

I think that it is merely metadata like timestamp and not the actual content of the file.
Anyway, since it is just a copy (the fil remaining on your hard drive), just proceed and check if the file is fine by opening it.
Beware that if there is a crash when the file is open from the USB, it leads to the file corruption, you'll have to copy it again from your hard drive to the USB drive.

Please add [Solved] at the beginning of the title in your first post (top of the topic) with the ✎ button if your issue has been fixed.

[MrProgrammer]

Which properties will not be copied?

The message is from Windows has nothing to do with OpenOffice. All of the Writer properties in the document will be copied. A web search immediately found these articles which explain that some file properties from Windows won't be copied, and how you can avoid that message if it bothers you. You have a Windows system (I don't) and can test to verify that your Writer file behaves correctly when opened from a USB drive. I will not help further in this topic.
Windows 10 message: The file has properties that can't be copied to this location
Fix: File Has Properties that Can't Be Copied to New Location

You do need to be very careful with USB drives, giving Writer and Windows plenty of time to save changes to the file or to eject the drive from your computer. The time needed will depend on your hardware. Do not expect that you can eject the drive immediately after saving the file.

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit ✏️ button and add [Solved] to the start of the Subject field. Select the green checkmark icon at the same time.

[michaelelias]

Okay, thank you both for the advice. I have plugged in the USB drive, and the files transferred to my new computer. A potential problem is that my novels are in the file format OpenDocument Text, but they show up with a Word icon and they open in Word, which I don't have and I don't want to use.
Is this only because I haven't installed Writer on my new computer, and once I do they'll open in Writer? Now, my other question is, which version of OpenOffice Writer should I download onto my new computer and use to continue writing and editing my work in progress? I had OO 4.1.3 on my old computer. If I use the latest version, which I see as 4.1.15, could that cause issues with formatting or other bugs? Or will that not be any sort of risk to melding what I've already written in .3 plus anything new I'd write in .15 into a uniform whole?

[LastUnicorn]

As you are on Windows 10 and transferring to (I assume) Windows 11 you would be best advised to switch from OpenOffice to LibreOffice. There are several good reasons for making the switch anyway, even if you are going to remain on a Windows 10 system, some reasons are mentioned here: [Tutorial] Considering a Switch from OpenOffice to LibreOffice? Some Useful Information

When you install LibreOffice it may be necessary to set what files open with what program (OpenOffice or LibreOffice) in Default Apps. For instructions on this see this: How to Set Your Default Apps on Windows 11 The procedure is roughly the same for Windows 10. Please note that the problems with getting default apps set for various OpenOffice or LibreOffice file types is one that Microsoft impose on Windows users. It is not the fault of OpenOffice or LibreOffice. This said you might get lucky on install on your machine and the defaults get set properly — it seems pretty much like entering a lottery, you might get lucky, you might not.

See also this page: Why Changing Default Apps in Windows 11 Is Too Hard?

P.S. Whatever you do please remember to update your forum signature to state if you are using OpenOffice or LibreOffice and what version of them you are using, also state the operating system you are using.

[LastUnicorn]

With respect to having set Default Apps:

If you manually search in Default Apps by file-type on what you want OpenOffice/LibreOffice to open then you must remember to state the file-type properly. For an OpenOffice/LibreOffice Writer file-type you would have to enter .odt as the file-type, it must include the period character when doing the search.

You should also be aware that even if you have set the Default Apps settings properly then when Windows does an update of the system Microsoft might change the Default Apps to use to some setting that favours Microsoft in trying to push Microsoft Office on to Windows users. I have been hit with this a couple of times myself.

With respect to Microsoft Office (365), or whatever Microsoft are naming their office suite as now, you can uninstall Microsoft Office from your system and that might prevent MS from changing your settings when MS updates the system. I uninstalled Microsoft Office from my own system and have less issues with file-types because of doing so. However, if you do this then you would need to remember to set OpenOffice/LibreOffice as the defaults for handling the file-types .doc and .docx (and so on) which would normally be opened by Microsoft Office.

[LastUnicorn]

In case you need it you can see a list of common file-type extensions used by OpenOffice/LibreOffice here: OpenDocument technical specification

[floris v]

If you don't do advanced things in OpenOffice and don't have to share your work with people insisting on getting documents in the docx format, you can get the latest version of OpenOffice and work with that. The file format hasn't changed. If you switch to LibreOffice, you will have to get used to a different user interface, and you may not like that.
The best way to use USB drives is to work with the files on your hard drive and save copies to the USB drive. That way, you reduce the chances to lose work when there's a power outage or computer crash. For the rest, keep the other advice about USB in mind.